I'm Loving My Life!!

My carpet arrived bright and early on Thursday morning!

I knew it would!

I put my phone beside me when we went to bed on Wednesday and told Louis Dean not to be surprised if they called at 8:00 and sure enough they did!

Or HE did! 

ONE carpet man!

He spoke with a heavy Mexican accent so when he said he'd be here in what I thought was 50 minutes was really15 minutes!!

Louis Dean went to the door to let him in.

He was a bit overwhelmed when he saw the two rooms and a hall he was to do and at first didn't think we'd ordered enough carpet....so while I got myself put together....he measured and found out he had the right amount,

Then he questioned if he could do the job by himself or go find a helper.

Wall to wall furniture and it was all HEAVY! Even after I'd emptied all the shelves and drawers.

Not to worry! He figured iut how to move every single piece out and that was quite a feat!

Louis Dean helped him a little but but not a lot.

We were so impressed.

I'll call him the Carpet Guy because I never got his name, well, he said it would take all day to do the two rooms and hall!

And sure enough - it did!!

This amazing man worked steady from 8:30 - 5:00!

The kitchen and sewing rooms were packed tight and it's a good thing we had back doors because I had to go out the bedroom door, walk around and come in the kitchen.

While he worked, Louis Dean and I sat outside on the driveway and had coffee.

Later we even took anap!

Once he got the dining room done, he moved all the living room pieces in there.

We were so impressed and I intend to call the carpet company in the morning and tell them what a great job he did! All by himself!!

I left at 4:15 to go up and get that sonogram on my carotid arteries and when I got back he was packing up. What a blessing he was and I am so sorry I don't even know his name!

Maybe I can find out when I call the store tomorrow.

I walked around smiling so big as I started putting a few things back in the living room.

It took awhile to clear the pathways where we had piled up all the debris.

It was a lot of hard work getting ready for the carpet and now it was going to be even harder to put it all back! Everything needed to be cleaned and organized.

Amber came over Friday and helped me with the doll cases.

Her dad had stayed up long after I'd gone to bed cleaning the glass and mirrors.

She and I worked non stop for over 2 hours putting the glass shelves back in after Amber had cleaned them and then filling the cases back up with his dollies!

After Amber went back to Dallas to pick the kids up from school, I worked on for over four more hours! Just on the doll cases!

I'll take pics of them soon but they have never looked prettier!

The top shelf on the left case holds the Little House on the Prairie dolls.

The second shelf has Victorian ones and the third one is all his Oriental doll collection.

The bottom shelve is not full but it has some patriotic things plus all of Louis Dean's awards and keepsakes from his Home Depot days.

The top shelf of the case on the right has his I Love Lucy dolls.

They have never been displayed as prominently before and we are loving looking at them.

He bought them years ago with Chandy in mind so she will inherit this collection.

The second shelf features all the Indian dolls of which one is mine - made by Reaoma and gifted to me by her daughter, Pam. 

The third shelf is other collectables including some clowns I have with the bottom shelf holds all the karate gis he's kept - many of which feature his beloved Ellen's embroidery work.

By the end of the day Friday, the living room was done!

All clean and decorated and candles lit!!

Louis Dean was sitting on the driveway when Jesse came home.

Look what he found on the curb up the street!!

FREE!

The neighbor had just set it out 30 minutes before.

Jesse walked up to the door to make sure it was okay to get it and the fellow said there was absolutely nothing wrong with it other than a little 'wear and tear' AND it has a Queen pull out so it's a sleeper sofa!

Win! WIN!!!

Jesse and I had just been talking on Thursday night about him needing a couch!

God was listening. God is always listening.

Saturday morning Louis Dean and I were still marveling at how beautiful the carpet is!

Before I started putting the dining room back together, I needed to do some laundry and clean the kitchen. 

Amber sent me a text that this was opening day at Hawaiian Falls - just in case we wanted to come out and join them!

The timing was perfect!

We needed a break and I'm so glad we went!

I love the way Louis Dean looks at me!

What better way to spend a Saturday afternoon than with family??

Amber and Benjamin grew up with Friday night Popcorn, Cokes and Movies throughout the year and every day possible in the summer at Hurricane Harbor!

It's only natural that Amber has continued these dearly loved traditions with her own family!

And true to form - Louis Dean went to the pool in his overalls!!!

He says next time he'll wear a swim suit!

We both now have season passes!

He was wanting a hot dog and I wanted a cold drink so I went off to join a long line at concessions!  After nearly 40 minutes I was up at the window ordering a Hawaiian Falls souvenir cup for $14.99 with FREE refills the day of purchase and $1.50 refills the rest of the season. Win! WIN!!! Plus I upgraded his request to a chili cheese dog with fries!

When I got back to our loungers - he was GONE!

But he came back a few minutes later ( after I had snacked on a few of his fries ) carrying not one but TWO hot Dogs!

What???

He wasn't in the same place I had been - that's for sure!

Apparently there was more than one place to get hot fogs and he had just walked up and ordered them. No line. Not fair!

It was a great day to be out in the sun and fun and water!

I walked the Lazy River and did some time in the Wave Pool and enjoyed watching the Hawaiian videos on the big screen.

The park closed at 5:00 and by 6:00 I had showered and shampooed and started working on the dining room. Finding the glass shelves for the case that holds my crystal and glasses was a trick! We still can't find the three small ones for the curio cabinet!

We spent Saturday evening in the gazebo with our wine and a book by Pearl S. Buck.

The weather has been such a gift!

I turned the AC off, opened up the doors and turned on the attic fan when we got home from Hawaiian Falls. What a blessing to have this coolness at this time of the year in Texas!

Jesse got home and decided to roast some coffee beans so we would all have some really fresh coffee for Sunday morning!

He has a coffee roaster and made himself a cooler for the beans.

I had no idea how important it was to cool the beans immediately after roasting.

Here he is measuring out the beans.

You can plainly see that they are green!

Did you know that coffee is a seed from a kind of cherry?

Roasting.....

They start popping and Jesse was moving quickly so they wouldn't burn!

This is the cooling machine he made.

The roasted beans!

Notice the darker color now.....

And then to celebrate this Saturday night.....

a perfect cup of coffee!

I woke up early this Sunday morning and started making a good breakfast - biscuits, bacon and scrambled eggs!

Amber had saved seats for us when we got to church!

I made a salad sampler to have along with the leftover goulash I had made on Friday.

This is the corn salad I made from Estelle's!

I adlibbed a bit since I didn't have the exact same vegetables but it was still very good!

And that's a wrap from the weekend!

We had meant to leave for the country tomorrow but now it will be Tuesday morning as we just didn't quite have our act together!

I pretty much took the day off and had myself a nice long nap this afternoon!

I'll take tomorrow to put some of the dining room back together while Louis Dean gets the truck all loaded and ready.

We will stop on our way Tuesday at Amber's and pick up our cats.

This was Samantha two years ago!

And Tabitha!

What joy they have brought to our lives!

For the last six weeks or so they have been over at the Bells who love them every bit as much as we do. Louis Dean has been especially missing them so I thought we'd just take them to the country with us and then bring them back to Amber until mid June when Jesse gets into his apartment. Then we will have our cats back - but I can tell you right now I will be missing my son! This is the most we have been able to be together since he graduated from college.

I'm not ready to give this time up yet!!!

There's this boy that holds my heart and he calls me Mom.